AND yet AGAIN, we find another segment in Scripture that we have probably been TOLD is boring, obsolete, irrelevant, and – especially – “done away with,” and again is focused explicitly on the difference between life and death.

This week the Erev Shabbat overview start with what happened “after the death” (‘acharie mot’) of the two sons of Aaron, from the story of the two goats of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement (yes, it still matters!) to a lot of commandments that the modern world certainly ignores, and we can see both why, and what the consequences are:

The Sabbath Day teaching this week again demonstrates that Torah really IS a matter of “Life and Death.” This time the “view from 10,000 feet” shows us why Mark contends this “double-portion” is literally a look right into why the world is in the shape it is:

During the Sabbath Day teaching, Mark is even a bit more blunt than usual, because the topic demands nothing less. Sometimes if we desire to understand what it means to be “set apart”, it’s very helpful to know, “from WHAT?”